Chapter 6: The Flight That Never Happened
Victoria sat on the concrete floor of the holding cell.
Her designer blouse was wrinkled.
Her mascara had streaked down her cheeks.
For the first time since I had met her...
She looked ordinary.
Not elegant.
Not composed.
Not in control.
She rocked back and forth, whispering the same sentence over and over.
"He wasn't supposed to come home early..."
"He wasn't supposed to come home early..."
The custody officer watched through the reinforced glass.
"She's been saying it for nearly twenty minutes."
Commissioner Lim stepped inside.
Victoria slowly looked up.
When she saw him, she smiled weakly.
"I need my husband."
Daniel's expression remained cold.
"Your husband is at the hospital."
Her smile disappeared.
"He'll forgive me."
No one answered.
"He always forgives people."
Daniel quietly replied,
"Not this time."
Across town...
I sat beside Lily's hospital bed.
The room was dim except for the soft glow of the bedside lamp.
She was awake now.
Carefully eating a bowl of warm porridge.
Every movement hurt.
But at least she was eating.
She looked at me nervously.
"Dad..."
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Are you angry with me?"
The spoon froze halfway to my mouth.
"Angry?"
She nodded.
"I tried to tell you."
Her voice became smaller.
"But every time..."
"Victoria cried first."
Tears filled her eyes.
"She said nobody would believe me."
I took her hand.
"Lily..."
I had negotiated billion-dollar contracts.
Built companies.
Spoken before thousands of investors.
Yet no words had ever been harder than these.
"I'm the one who should be asking for forgiveness."
She stared at me.
"I left you alone."
"I thought I was giving you a family."
Instead...
"I brought danger into our home."
She squeezed my fingers.
"You didn't know."
That simple sentence broke me more completely than anything else.
Meanwhile...
The forensic accountants continued examining Victoria's financial records.
One investigator suddenly frowned.
"Commissioner..."
Daniel looked up.
"What did you find?"
The investigator enlarged a series of airline reservations.
Three one-way business-class tickets.
Singapore.
Dubai.
Buenos Aires.
Departure date...
Two days after my scheduled return from Singapore.
The passenger names appeared.
Victoria Tan.
Marcus Ng.
The third name...
Was fake.
Issued under a fraudulent passport.
Daniel leaned closer.
"What was the third identity for?"
The immigration officer answered quietly.
"We think it was intended for Victoria after altering her appearance."
"So she planned to disappear."
"Yes."
"And never return."
Another detective entered carrying a sealed envelope.
"We've contacted the insurance company."
Daniel opened the report.
His expression hardened immediately.
"The beneficiary request..."
"What about it?"
"It was submitted four days ago."
My financial adviser had received instructions to increase Victoria's life insurance benefit.
Only one problem.
I had never signed the documents.
The signature looked identical.
Perfect.
Too perfect.
The forensic examiner adjusted his glasses.
"It's forged."
He looked directly at Daniel.
"A professional forgery."
Back at the hospital...
Mrs. Chen quietly entered Lily's room carrying homemade chicken soup.
She smiled gently.
"My little princess."
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
"I'm sorry, Auntie Chen."
Mrs. Chen looked confused.
"For what?"
"I couldn't protect you."
The elderly woman immediately shook her head.
"No."
She sat beside the bed.
"It was always my job to protect you."
"I failed."
Lily reached out and hugged her.
The two cried together.
Watching them...
I realized something.
Family wasn't created by marriage certificates.
Or blood.
It was created by the people who stayed beside you when everything fell apart.
Late that evening...
Commissioner Lim returned to headquarters.
A young detective was waiting outside his office.
"Sir."
"The airport authority called."
Daniel frowned.
"What happened?"
"They identified something unusual."
He handed over several security photographs.
Victoria appeared in every image.
Not recently.
Three months earlier.
She had visited the private aviation terminal.
Twice.
Daniel studied the timestamps.
"Why?"
The detective answered quietly.
"We interviewed the staff."
"One pilot remembers her."
"What did she ask?"
The detective swallowed.
"She wanted to know..."
"...which private charter companies had the highest accident rates."
Silence filled the office.
Daniel slowly lowered the photographs.
"And?"
"She specifically asked whether mechanical failures over international waters were difficult to investigate."
The Commissioner closed his eyes.
This was no longer a financial crime.
Nor simply child abuse.
The evidence pointed toward something far darker.
The following morning...
Victoria was escorted into an interrogation room once again.
This time...
The table wasn't empty.
Daniel carefully arranged photographs in front of her.
Lily's injuries.
The hidden cameras.
The forged insurance forms.
The offshore bank accounts.
The airline tickets.
Finally...
The five-page document labeled:
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Victoria stared at them.
Her confidence slowly disappeared.
Daniel spoke quietly.
"Do you recognize these?"
She said nothing.
He placed one final photograph on top.
It showed me hugging Lily inside the hospital.
Taken by a news photographer outside the emergency entrance.
Victoria looked at it for several seconds.
Then...
Without warning...
She began crying.
Not softly.
Not dramatically.
Hopelessly.
"I loved him..."
Daniel didn't respond.
She repeated herself.
"I really did."
The Commissioner calmly asked one question.
"Which one?"
She looked confused.
"What?"
"The man..."
"Or his money?"
Victoria couldn't answer.
Because for the first time...
She no longer knew the difference.
Just then, the interrogation room door opened.
A senior prosecutor entered carrying a thick legal file.
He placed it on the table.
"Commissioner."
"The Attorney General has approved the formal charges."
Daniel nodded.
"How many?"
The prosecutor looked at Victoria.
Then quietly replied,
"Twenty-seven."
Victoria's face turned completely white.
But it was the final charge listed at the bottom of the indictment...
...that made her hands begin to tremble uncontrollably.
May you like
Conspiracy to Commit Murder.
To be continued...
